Monthly Recap: May

With the off day, the end of another month, and the start of another Sox/Stanks series set to get underway tonight at Fenway, I realized now would be a great time to give a State of the Sox update.

Olus it's raining here in FLA for the first time in nearly a month, so...

Record for May: 20-8 (36-16)
Lead in AL East: +6 1/2 (+10)
Series record: 7-1-1, 2 sweeps (13-3-2, 5)
AVG: .277 (3rd)
ERA: 3.71 (2nd)
HRs: 56 (6th)
RUNS: 280 (3rd)
WALKS: 222 (1st)

Batters Box: *season tots. in ()

• Kevin Youkilis (.354/8/30/.427OBP)-- batted .402 (45-112) with 13 doubles, 6 homers and 22 RBIs in 26 games and has had at least one hit in every game since May 10th; is currently 3rd in AL in batting, and oh, there was that little inside-the-park thingy
• David Ortiz (.315/9/38)-- Papi hit a productive .333 in may but his power numbers were WAY down- just 2 homers and 16 RBIs- although he did smack 12 doubles; currently 10th in AL in ribbies; hammy woes, or something more?
• Mike Lowell (.330/10/41)-- he and Youk formed the 1-2 power punch in May as Lowell hit a scalding .343 with 6 homers and 21 ribbs; his 11 RBIs in last 12 games vaulted him to 7th in the league
• Dustin Pedroia (.308/17R/11BI)-- Boston's hottest hitter in the month, Dusty batted a Williams-esque .415 to raise his avg. 136 points; ended the month on a 10-game hitting streak (15-33, .455) and belted 6 doubles with a .472 OBP and .600 SLG% in May-whew!
• Manny Ramirez (.269/8/31)-- ManRam came on late in May (he started the month batting .2o2) and ripped the ball in 8 of the last 9 games: 13-34, 5 doubles, triple, 2 homers & 6 ribbies; hit .327 with 5 homers and 18 RBIs for month
• Jason Varitek (.277/5/26)-- the Captain came on strong late in May, batting .296 in the last 10 games with 1 double, 2 triples, 2 homers and 10 RBIs; finished May batting .311 with 3 homers and 17 ribbies
• J.D. Drew (.226/2/17)-- Drew batted an anemic .171 (13-76) for the month with no homers & 9 RBIs, dropping his avg. 107 pts; adding injury to insult, he busted his back on the Fenway bullpen wall & had a ball hit off his face -ouch, babe! (10th in AL in walks)
• Coco Crisp (.229/27R/15BB/10SB)-- although his avg. barely strayed from where he ended April (.235), Coco contributed in may ways this month, namely with terrific defense in center, four bunt hits, 12 walks and 7 thefts; only hit .224, though
• Julio Lugo (.230/27R/30RBI/15SB)--Lugo is harder to figure out than a Rubik's cube. He hit .209 in May with a horrendous (esp. for a leadoff hitter) .241OBP, but mashed 21 ribbies and stole 7 bases, rising to 4th in AL; he's NOT a leadoff hitter
• Alex Cora (.316/9R/13RBI)-- after a sizzling April, Cora came back to Earth in May, but part of that was due to how hot Pedroia got. Alex played in only 17 games in May and just 2 of the last 8; still, he batted a very respectable .294 in limited duty
• Doug Mirabelli (.190/2/4)-- talk about freefallin'; Doug dropped 163 points in May with a putrid 2-25 showing in 7 games; he did catch back-to-back games for the first time, but his hot April (.353) turned into a morbid May
• Wily Mo Pena (.237/3/6)-- oh, Wily Mo, will we ever see what you can be, or is this all you got? Although he batted .300 in May (9-30), he had almost as many Ks (8) as hits and he played defense like Willie McGinest-brutally. Now fanned 23 times in 59 ABs-yikes!
• Eric Hinske (.173/1/5)--batted just .114 in 12 games, but his four hits included 2 doubles and a homer; okay, so he whiffed 11 times too, but it's tough to judge him because of limited PT

Pitcher's Box:

• Daisuke Matsuzaka (7-3, 4.83)-- started May 4-0, then shit the bed Wed. against CLE; still, tied-2nd in wins, he got 8 1/2 runs per game but allowed 44 hits and 23 ERs in 39.2 innings for an ERA of 5.22
• Curt Schilling (5-2, 3.68)-- Schill had a solid win against the Twins, his worst loss of the year against the Stanks, followed by his best outing (7IP, 6H, 1R, 0BB, 10Ks) on Mon. vs the Tribe for a 2-1/4.03 month
• Tim Wakefield (5-5, 3.36)-- went 3-2 with a 4.09 ERA in May after leading the league in ERA for a portion of April; had a couple of stinkers against NY & DET, but he shut down MIN & TOR to start month; 13th in ERA, 10th in wins
• Julian Tavarez (3-4, 5.40)-- Julie had a nice month in the 5-hole, posting a 2-2 record with a 3.99 ERA, bringing his mark down from 7.58; he'll probably head back to the pen if Lester debuts in June as expected
• Josh Beckett (8-0, 2.65)-- although he spent 15 days on the DL , he still went 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA. currently 1st in AL in wins, 2nd in WHIP (0.97), 2nd in Win% and 5th in ERA; fingers crossed that avulsion stays away in June
• Jon Papelbon (13SV, 1.86)-- faltered a bit in May (5-6 in saves, 3.60 ERA), but when you're near-perfect in April (8-8, 0.00), there's nowhere to go but down; has all'd only 12 hits & 4 runs with 28 Ks in 19IP, and he is ranked 5th in the AL in saves
• Hideki Okajima (4SV, 10H, 1.08)-- like Paps he had a little bit of a tough May-he actually allowed a run, breaking a 20.2IP scoreless streak-but his numbers, versatility, and devastating Oki-Doke make him the staff's surprise star; 10th in AL in holds
• Kyle Snyder (1-0, 1.53)-- who would thunk the former KC castoff would become the pen's most valuable middle reliever? Dropped his ERA from 2.84 in April, and lefties are batting a microscopic .038 against him-awesome
• Brendan Donnelly (2-1, 3.71)-- he and Romero are the Forrest Gumps of the pen; ERA ballooned from 0.00 in April and batters hitting .344 off him @ Fenway, but he does have 2 wins & 7 holds...
• Javier Lopez (1-0, 3.38)-- had a rough outing against ATL on the 19th (3ER in 1IP) that jumped his ERA from 0.00 to 3.68, but he has become a one-batter specialist, especially against lefties, who are hitting .182 against him; also has 7 holds
• J.C. Romero (1-0, 1SV. 3.86)-- see Donnelly; all'd 3 ERs in last 2 apps. shooting his ERA from 2.35 to 3.86; has given up 13 walks against just 9 Ks in 16.1IP-not good.
• Joel Pineiro (1-0, 5.14)-- has come on strong recently (1ER in last 4.2IP) to lower his ERA 92 pts; still, lefties batting an eye-popping .368 off him and he gets hammered at Fenway (.395)

Others: Mike Timlin made one app before going on the DL; Kason Gabbard (5IP, 6H, 2ER,BB, 7Ks, W) and Devern Hansack (4IP, 6H, 3ER, BB, 2Ks, 2HRs) both made starts in place of Beckett; and Manny Delcarmen (1IP, no stats) made a brief appearance with the big club

There you have it, a mixed May for many players that all totaled out to mean a 10-game lead over Baltimore for 2nd place in the AL East and a 13.5 bulge on the Stanks, who come to Fenway tonight.

Let's hope the Sox start June like they ended May-scorching hot and ready to drop-kick the Feeble Empire right out of the playoff picture for good.

Bring on the Stankees!